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Trader of meth, stolen goods draws lengthy prison term

A Grand Junction man was sentenced to 33 years in prison Wednesday for orchestrating a criminal operation in which he traded methamphetamine for thousands of dollars worth of stolen items.

Guy Rowe, 46, had previously pleaded guilty to two felony counts of theft by receiving and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Mesa County Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said authorities believed Rowe for years was dealing drugs and acting as a clearinghouse for stolen items. He said Rowe would trade the items, which were mostly expensive tools that had been stolen from businesses and homes, for meth.

“We had witnesses who came forward who said he asked them to (burglarize homes and businesses),” Rubinstein said. “We also had witnesses who said he was known as the guy who had meth that he would trade for stolen items.”

In one instance, Rubinstein said, Rowe directed a man to break into a police impound lot and remove the vehicle identification number from a trailer so that police couldn’t trace the trailer back to him. Officers had found thousands of dollars in stolen items in the trailer.

Rubinstein said police learned about Rowe trading meth for stolen items after arresting him twice on suspicion of possessing meth.

Rowe was previously convicted of theft in Montrose in 2005 and possession of meth in Grand Junction in 2006.